


My Child, My Everything

by VividDayDreamer



Series: Prompts and Challenges (Supergirl 2015) [38]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Gen, Motherhood, Newborn Children, Parenthood, Single Parents, Tumblr Prompt, samariasweek, struggles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:46:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22805764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VividDayDreamer/pseuds/VividDayDreamer
Summary: Sam struggles with being a single parent during Ruby's newborn stage, crumbling under the weight of her responsibilities and choices.  As she falters, she begins to question it all, until one moment, where it all that falls away.
Relationships: Ruby Arias & Samantha "Sam" Arias
Series: Prompts and Challenges (Supergirl 2015) [38]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1356811
Comments: 6
Kudos: 18





	My Child, My Everything

**Author's Note:**

>   
> 
> 
> Challenge Details: 
>   * Challenge Name: [Sam Arias Week 2020](https://samarias-week.tumblr.com/prompts)
>   * Relationship: Sam & Ruby
>   * Prompt: Day 1 - Ruby
> 

> 
>   
> 
> 
> Notes: Welp, this one is a little late for the challenge, but I tried! Oh well, hope you guys enjoy it! Thanks!
> 
>   
> 
> 
> **Prompt me if you'd like to play! You can find my prompts and rules on my[Tumblr](https://dreamsescapeus.tumblr.com/).**
> 
>   
> 

  


Parenthood was hard. _Is_ hard. Sam now understood the extent of the entanglements of what that overly generic and overused phrase meant. 

  


But being a single parent was like a slap in the face.

  


Being financially unstable didn't help either.

  


And a lack of a healthy support system nearly broke her.

  


Sam worked several jobs and studied when she could, fitting it between meal breaks, commuting and the rare free hours she had before needing to go to bed. She barely got any rest.

She remembered being at the brink of tears in her sleep deprived state, when her little "bundle of joy" refused to recognize the difference between night and day, needing to feed every so often or get changed, waking her on a near constant basis and keeping her at a zombified state for stretches of days. Never in her life did she think she'd ever regret having Ruby, but she started to spiral, and caught herself occasionally wishing that very thing.

  


Until this moment. 

  


Until _something_ happened, that forever changed her mind.

  


With bloodshot eyes, Sam's heavy lids forced themselves open. There it was again, that helpless cry of a newborn. That wailing of need and insecurity; a heartbreaking cry that a mother would have a hard time running away from.

She glanced at her phone, squinting from the sheer brightness of the screen in their darkened room. 3:27am. She flopped the phone back on her nightstand and threw her head back onto the pillow. It was about the right time for Ruby's feeding, and had only been about a hour since she, herself, had laid down.

Sam threw the blanket off her with more force than she should've, but it was the frustration that fueled it. Her patience was running thin; her tank, running on empty. After letting out a deep breath, with hopes of soothing her emotions before reaching Ruby, she tossed her legs off the side of the bed and got up; fatigue dragging her every movement.

  


"I'm coming, baby."

  


Her voice was tired. _She_ was tired. Tears pricked at her eyes and it stung from the sheer exhaustion with burning intensity. Raw and sore, it made her want to cry in earnest. However, despite the ache in her bones and the desperate, angry plea for rest boiling deep within her, Sam put a sense of comfort in her tone, remembering that babies can sense their mother and react to their emotional state accordingly; a natural effect from that maternal bond they shared.

She drew her hands to her face, pressing them against her skin and running them down, huffing out another exasperated breath before she reached the crib. She reached down, one hand cradled the newborn's fragile head and neck, while the other supported her rear, and picked her up with a gentle swoop. The cries continued though, piercing her ears. So she did what she normally did, hushing and bouncing softly while she carried her child over to the changing pad that permanently lived on the unused side of her full-sized bed. Sam turned on the light—a lamp covered by a threadbare piece of fabric that draped over its shade to dim its effects, helping her to cope with these witching hours.

  


"Shhh, it's okay, Rubes," Sam soothed as she laid Ruby down and began to change her diaper. It's been nearly two months, and at the very least, she can finally say that she's started to build a knack for doing it, even while half asleep, ensuring that it wasn't fastened too tight, or didn't hang too loose to cause potential blow-outs.

  


Ruby calmed down shortly thereafter. Her cries weaned off and those owlish eyes stared at her like they always did. Sam could see how Ruby was trying to make sense of the blurry moving shadows in her not-yet-developed vision. The change in demeanor immediately relaxed Sam. It was a welcomed reprieve. She'd take anything at this point. Even a minute of silence.

Sam cupped little Ruby's head, and in this moment of peace, she experienced the fondness and awe of being able to touch something so real and so small and so fragile. She thumbed ever so softly against the newborn's skin, brushing away the few silken strands of golden brown locks from her forehead.

  


And it's when it happened.

  


Ruby's eyes brightened and focused on Sam, her cherub cheeks lifted, miniature lips parted, revealing her toothless gums, and that little tongue of hers peeked out. 

  


Ruby's first smile.

  


And Sam knew that. Sam knew it was a genuine one and not the cause of passing gas, or whatever it was that she read online. This one was different. The way it beamed purposefully, casting a glow over her innocent face in a nearly angelic manner, building this warmth that filled Sam's chest, was unlike the others. It was unexplainable. So no, this wasn't a falsified version due to reflex from an abdominal reaction. This was real. It _felt_ real.

  


And it cracked, Sam.

  


For the first time since Ruby was born, Sam spilled tears of joy, once more recalling why she wanted to keep her, why life was so precious, why she had to keep going, and why being a mother was such a gift.

  


Ruby was _hers_.

  


She picked up her daughter then, cradled her in her arms, nestled her against her chest, then bent forward to press soft kisses on her head, mouthing her lips quietly against her skin, the words, " _I love you, so so much baby. I always will._ "

  


Because Ruby was worth it.

  



End file.
